The copending U.S. Patent Application of the present inventor, Ser. No. 683,238, filed May 4, 1976 (now abandoned in favor of a continuation-in-part application Ser. No. 825,393, filed Aug. 17, 1977, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,144,988, issued Mar. 20, 1979) discloses a twist-top dispenser for caulking and the like, in which a standard caulking cartridge or the like is, during its manufacture, provided with a cap on its rear end which, when rotated, advances the piston within the cartridge to expel a bead of flowable plastic contents from the dispenser tip at the forward end of the cartridge. That dispenser was developed to permit users to apply such contents from cartridges without the need for a caulking gun.